Dangerous Memories

[SWJED]

From wretchard at The Belmont Club blog - Dangerous Memories.

The BBC has refused to air a show dramatizatizing how Private Johnson Beharry won the Victoria Cross in Iraq because "it was too positive" and "feared it would alienate members of the audience opposed to the war in Iraq", according to the Telegraph...

But the BBC is not unique in its sensibilities. In Littleton, Colorado a group of parents are opposing "a soldier memorial located near three schools and two playgrounds should be relocated because the design showing a Navy SEAL clutching an automatic rifle glorifies violence," according to CBS...

The book Stolen Valor may provide the key to understanding this peculiar sensibility. Military researcher B.G. Burkett showed how the story of Vietnam veterans was not only distorted -- the second chapter of his book was entitled "Welcome home, baby killers" -- but how fake veterans, conforming to the media stereotype were produced in place of the real thing. Not only was the collective memory of veterans effaced, a counterfeit was produced in its stead. Nor has the process stopped. Many readers will probably recall the star of the Pepperspray Productions video special, Jessie Macbeth: Former Army Ranger and Iraq War Veteran. In place of the real Johnson Beharry, the public is served up the recollections of the fake Ranger Jesse Macbeth...

[tequila]

Apologies if I refuse to take very little that the Telegraph writes seriously, especially a single-sourced hit piece on a television film.

[bismark17]

There is a lot of truth to that psuedo hero mythology that the media helped develop. While working Patrol, I have dealt with many former "SEALS" who had been in Vietnam who had never heard of Coronado. Or former Vietnam SF or Rangers with the same type of situation going on. My favorite was probably the former CIA hitman who in Vietnam had served with the 75th Special Forces Group. My assumption is that when he was in the Rangers he must have been in the 5th or 7nth Bat. He sure had his wife convinced....

An old patrol partner of mine got into a fight with one mental who began yelling during it, "hey man, My dad was a Vietnam Vet!" It boggles the mind. I had read somewhere that the VA, Post Vietnam wasn't really requiring much for proof of service so these loonies were slipping in and then using the resulting paperwork for proof of their military experiences. When in fact it had never been checked in the first place. I sure hope that isn't true or at least now isn't due to the fact we are going to have a lot of people running around soon that are truly deserving of the limited resources that are available.

I did come across the real thing once. I was on a routine shake and contaced a subject in the middle of the night in a closed park that is a hang out for dopers. As I doing my initial spiel during the contact and doing a routine patdown with my off hand I felt a hard object in his armpit and immediately drew my .357. It eventually turned out he was an AWOL SEAL who was carrying a P85 locked and loaded in a shoulder holster. Thank God he was cooperative. My assumption he was there to rob dope dealers. Unlike what the media wants you to believe guys like that are the exception.

[selil]

Hey Bismark were you around when the Hilltop in Tacoma went nuts in the late 80's? We had an entire company of SF's (Rangers) go bezerk on the gang bangers (Bloods), and in the ensuing melee seveal hundred rounds were exchanged. Not one casuality or hit....

[RTK]

Hey Bismark were you around when the Hilltop in Tacoma went nuts in the late 80's? We had an entire company of SF's (Rangers) go bezerk on the gang bangers (Bloods), and in the ensuing melee seveal hundred rounds were exchanged. Not one casuality or hit....

I was in middle school when that happened in Seattle.

I think that's when I decided to join the Army.

[slapout9]

Hey Bismarck, I met "Agent Orange" himself one night on patrol. I also met the guy who invented the Internet. He ended up being arrested for trespassing, he was going through a dumpster at MacDonald's. Guess he had to sellout before he made any money

[goesh]

http://veriseal.org/about.html

[Tom Odom]

Hey Bismarck, I met "Agent Orange" himself one night on patrol. I also met the guy who invented the Internet. He ended up being arrested for trespassing, he was going through a dumpster at MacDonald's. Guess he had to sellout before he made any money

You arrested Al Gore? Did he have a guy named Babbit with him?

[slapout9]

Tom, as a matter of fact the guys first name was Alfred. No Babitt, he worked solo.